The Demon Chef Kayou

"Mm, the scent of delicious food really filled the air everywhere. It was intoxicating." Roy sighed blissfully, even wondering whether he should simply abduct all the chefs who had come to compete today.

Although King and Patch were not as fanatically devoted to food as Roy, the pursuit of beautiful things was human nature. Thus, both of them were greatly looking forward to the upcoming Gourmet Competition.

At the Gourmet Plaza, although the competition had yet to begin, many chefs were already preparing their dishes. Long lines had formed before several of the more famous chefs. After all, each chef only made a limited amount of carefully prepared food. Aside from the portions given to the judges, there was not much left for others to enjoy.

Roy had dispatched a large number of his underlings to line up early. It could be said that the first few people in nearly every chef's line were Roy's men. Fortunately, everyone aboard the ship was fanatically loyal to Roy. Otherwise, ordinary pirates subjected to this treatment would have begun questioning their lives.

Moreover, these underlings had been carefully selected by Roy. Though they were not particularly strong, every one of them looked vicious and menacing, clearly not the sort of people with kind intentions. The chefs preparing food were so frightened that they wished they could put in one hundred and twenty percent effort.

If they slipped up during the cooking process and failed to produce the delicious taste they had imagined, who knew whether these thugs would beat them senseless?

Roy patrolled the area with great satisfaction, like a king of cuisine. However, he soon noticed something rather strange.

In a secluded corner, a young man with long hair hanging loose over his shoulders was preparing food alone. He looked intensely focused, seemingly utterly indifferent to the commotion around him.

Other than Roy's underlings lining up before him, there was no one there. In fact, even the people nearby deliberately avoided that area, as though it were some forbidden ground.

Quite a few people noticed the oddity and wanted to investigate out of curiosity, but their companions quickly pulled them back. After whispering something in their ears, they revealed terrified expressions and hurried away.

Roy casually grabbed a few passersby and pointed toward the corner. "What's with that guy?"

They had initially looked displeased, but after seeing Patch's imposing physique behind Roy, they wisely chose to yield.

"Y-you mean Kayou, the Demon Chef?" After hearing Roy's question, one person's eyes widened, apparently conflicted over whether to answer.

"Demon Chef? Kayou? Why do you call him the Demon Chef?" Roy became interested instead.

"No, to be precise, he doesn't deserve to be called a chef at all." One person said indignantly.

"That's right. What he makes isn't food at all—it's poison."

"Everyone who has eaten his food has gone completely mad."

"He must be an emissary from the devil. May he go to hell soon."

After everyone chimed in, they belatedly glanced toward Kayou. Only when they saw that he was still focused on cooking did they breathe a sigh of relief, then fled as if for their lives.

"Tsk, tsk. In my opinion, this Demon Chef Kayou definitely isn't a simple character," Roy remarked.

"Huh? Isn't he just a chef who can't even make decent food?" Patch asked blankly.

King gave him a somewhat disdainful look. "You can't see that? Even food with hallucinogenic properties would find it difficult to drive a normal person completely insane. Yet the ingredients Kayou used just now were extremely ordinary, and he could still cook food from them that drove people mad. That alone was very impressive. And look at his expression. He seemed calm and unaffected by honor or disgrace, but in truth, it was arrogance and disdain. He completely disregarded others' opinions, which showed that he was an absolutely confident person. Am I right, Captain?"

As his time aboard the ship increased, King had returned to his former carefree nature. He often implied that Patch's intelligence was worrying, while Patch, when not fighting, was a laid-back sort who did not care about King's sharp tongue at all.

"Hahaha, you still haven't gotten to the point." Roy laughed loudly.

"Hm? How could that be?" King was somewhat unconvinced, but he did not dare challenge Roy's authority.

"Of course, it's because so many people want him dead. If he were some simple nobody, he would've been beaten to death long ago. Hahaha."

King's lips twitched, and he decided not to speak.

Roy strode over to Kayou, motioned for his underlings to leave, and personally took his place in line.

Kayou showed no reaction to Roy's arrival. He continued handling the fish in his hands. With only a light press and pull, the fish bones were stripped cleanly from its flesh.

Roy was deeply surprised by this. Removing bones from fresh fish was not difficult for an ordinary chef, but he had truly never seen anyone do it as effortlessly as Kayou. That knife work alone raised Roy's expectations by another level.

At that moment, a group of pirates dressed in somewhat flamboyant fashion entered the plaza. At their head was a man with a slicked-back hairstyle. After surveying the surroundings, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he walked toward Roy.

Setting aside anything else, Kayou's knife skills alone were an art form, pleasing to watch. As Roy eagerly anticipated the food to come, an arrogant voice suddenly rang out.

"Hey, you. You're the captain of that Pirate Crew that arrived yesterday, right?"

Roy frowned slightly. This man clearly looked like he had come to cause trouble. If Roy had not wanted to avoid blood ruining his mood for enjoying food, he would not even have bothered asking questions before killing him.

"What do you want?" Though he suppressed the anger in his heart somewhat, Roy still asked irritably.

"Well, well, look at this little rookie acting so arrogant. Let me tell you, I'm here to save you."

"Save me?" Roy almost laughed aloud, as though he had heard the greatest joke in the world.

"That's right. I bet you don't know yet. The moment you came ashore yesterday, the Marines here set their sights on you. From what I know, they've already decided to wipe you out. Scared now?"

"Heh." Roy rolled his dead-fish eyes, too tired to even mock him. Were the Marines here really this inflated? With the record he had displayed, even a Marine Rear Admiral might not be able to gain an advantage against him. What gave a mere Branch Captain here the courage to say something like that? Liang Jingru?

Big Backhead naturally took Roy's reaction as being terrified out of his wits. Highly satisfied, he said, "You don't need to be afraid. Our Black Hand Gang has been rooted here for many years. We even have people within the Marines, so I can have them hold the Marines off for a while. You can use the chance to escape."

"Is your Black Hand Gang really that kindhearted?"

"Of course not. You'll have to pay a hefty protection fee, otherwise I'll be in quite a difficult position too. But your fleet looks pretty large, so you should have plenty of money, right? Just give me one hundred million Beli as a token gesture."

Roy understood now. The Marines and pirates here were probably in cahoots, working together to scam money. After all, the Marines were still quite intimidating to most pirates.

"Does this count as extortion?"

"Hahaha, of course not. This is robbery. Hand over the money already, or don't blame me for joining forces with the Marines to wipe you out. A rookie pirate like you probably hasn't seen how dangerous the world can be. This lord here is a great pirate with a bounty of ten million Beli!"

Roy could no longer be bothered to mock him. He directly told Patch, who was cracking his knuckles nearby, "He's yours. Remember, don't make a move in the plaza. I don't want to see blood while I'm eating."

"Understood, Captain." Patch replied delightedly, then walked toward Big Backhead's group with a ferocious grin.